Judge nixes lawsuit against Yale

NEW HAVEN -- A federal judge in Connecticut has dismissed a lawsuit against Yale University by a South Korean university that claimed it lost tens of millions of dollars after Yale damaged its reputation.

Dongguk University claimed in the 2008 lawsuit that Yale wrongly confirmed that an art history professor it hired earned a doctorate at the New Haven school. Court papers say professor Shin Jeong-ah later had a scandalous love affair with an aide to South Korea's president.

Dongguk, a Buddhist-affiliated university in Seoul, sued Yale for more than $50 million, saying it lost that amount in government grants, alumni donations and costs of building a law school the government later refused to approve because of the scandal.

Judge Tucker Melancon on Friday dismissed allegations of defamation and negligence.